Gaea...Our Way
by Witches and Zombies R Us
Summary: Holly and Kim go to Gaea! Don't we wish...This is probably the only story we wrote where we censored the swearing! Have fun! *Complete*
1. Part 1

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Holly awoke to find herself in a dark place. Where am I? She wondered. And where's Kim? I know she's around here somewhere...I remember we were watching Escaflowne, and then what?

"Kim?" She called out. "Where are you?" There was no response. 

Holly reached out and her fingers came into contact with a wall. She used it to edge along and tried to find...something. The darkness did not bother her much, but she was worried what might be lurking nearby.

She came to a door handle and turned it. A door opened and she could see out.

I remember! I was going to the kitchen for some more food when I fell in the closet and it shut on me! Confounded thing...I must have blacked out.

Feeling much more confident, she stepped out of the closet...

...And her mouth dropped open in shock.

She was not in her house. She was in a place where the Earth and the Moon hung above her in the sky...

We weren't drinking...So am I dreaming? This can't be right!

"Kim! Kim, come quick! You have to see this!"

*****

Kim could hear Holly calling, but she couldn't see her. She stood in the doorway, staring into the room. "This is the Vione!" she gasped. She tentatively reached her hand out, to find no obstruction. She took a few steps forward and dropped onto the floor of the floating fortress. The door behind her disappeared with a flash of light. She could hear slow methodical footsteps coming towards her, and she bit her lip.

How am I going to hide? They're going to kill me!

*****

Holly got no answer to her desperate cries, and when she looked behind her, the door had disappeared.

"Well...This is odd." She was torn between the desire to start screaming, or start giggling hysterically.

I should really stop eating so much popcorn. It does weird things to my system.

"You there, who are you?"

If that's who I think it is, I'm going to faint.

"It's coming! The dragon! Get out of the way!" yelled Van Slanzar de Fanel.

Holly promptly passed out.

*****

Kim watched as the black cape floated across the floor, towards the table under which she was crouched. As it passed by her, she let out a sigh of relief...and he stopped.

"Ah, sandwiches," she cursed.

The tip of a sword lined with her face, and Folken demanded that she show herself.

She slowly crawled from underneath the table, showing her hands in surrender.

"A woman?" Folken said, shocked. "How did a woman get onto the floating fortress?"

"I don't know," Kim answered timidly.

"Silence!" Dilandau emerged from the shadows. "Baka!" he screamed, preparing to smack her. Folken grabbed his wrist. 

Dilandau cackled.

"Folken, you are such a softy," he said, strutting away.

"Tell me your name," Folken requested, turning his attention back to the girl.

"Kim," she said softly, and he smiled.

"Come with me, and we will ask Dornkirk why you have come to us," he said, grabbing her hand with his left.

*****

Holly could hear a sexy voice calling her. I must be dreaming, she thought. It sounds like Van.

"Girl! Girl, wake up!"

"Mmmph," she said, in typical Holly waking up fashion. "Just five more minutes...please Mom..."

"You're going to be eaten by a dragon if you don't hurry!"

Holly giggled. "But I don't even taste good!"

She was startled into full awakeness by the sound of a really loud growl.

That was real!

She jumped to her feet and was prepared to run for her life. Until she remembered that she had no idea in which direction to travel.

Van noticed her odd attire; that strange looking fuzzy shirt and...and pair of pants?! He would question her later.

"Run, girl!"

"Which way?" she demanded.

"Go that way!"

Holly obeyed. Except that she was a really bad runner and she tripped over an insanely small stone, landing flat on her face.

"Ow," she groaned.

*****

A decrepit old man appeared on a giant screen before them.

"Yes, Emperor Dornkirk?" Folken asked.

"Train the girl, she will be useful. There is uncertainty in our ideal future. Find what caused it. Stop it."

"And capture the dragon." He disappeared.

"Come, we must find clothes for you," Folken said, and began walking in a direction. Kim felt obliged to follow him.

He gave her an outfit with leather and armor. Once she had put it on, and he had inspected her appearance, he decided that she should have a sword for the empty sheath at her hip.

He took her to a room filled with swords, and had her pick each one up. She did, and waved each one around. She could see no point to this, but he seemed very serious and interested, so she decided to humor him. Finally, she took one with a silver hilt and a blue jewel centered within it. . It felt feather light and was easy to wave around.

"Perfect," Folken said, and put the sword in its sheath. He took her to a room with a bed.

"You will sleep here," he said, and closed the door.

Seconds later it flung open to reveal an enraged Dilandau.

"So, YOU will be fighting with US? A WOMAN? Well, watch yourself girl, it's... 'dangerous' out there," he hissed, and he spat on her shoe. Slamming the door, he screamed for his Dragon Slayers.

Kim was left shivering, afraid, and alone in the dark.

*****

"You're hopeless!" Van exclaimed.

That stung. Holly got up carefully and sniffled.

What a jerk. I guess he's still in Jerk Phase in this storyline.

She was having trouble accepting the fact that she was really here on Gaea...She wondered if Kim was worried, back at home, waiting for her to bring the potato chips...She was counting on me and I let her down. I'm sorry Kim!

Holly couldn't run anymore, so she watched Van fight the dragon. 

The dragon looks so awesome...these special effects are the best...

The dragon swerved and came after her.

He's REAL!

She let out a small whimper. She was unable to scream.

Van yelled at the Dragon to come and get him. Holly stared into the dragon's eyes and fear clutched at her heart.

******

Kim clutched her knees to her chest and rested her head on her knees.

This isn't as fun as I imagined, she thought sadly. Where's Holly? I haven't even seen the last five episodes! I'm so scared...I am with the bad guys!

Two hot tears ran down her cheeks.

She went to lay down, but her scabbard poked her hip. She unbuckled the belt, and let it clatter to the floor. She then sighed and fell back against the semi-comfortable bed. She closed her eyes and repeatedly told herself to sleep...but sleep never came. After about twenty minutes, her eyes flew open.

"Screw this, it's not working."

She swung her legs onto the floor and stepped into her boots.

It's not a crime to walk around, is it? she thought, opening the door, and stepping out into the semi-lit hallway.

*****

Van slashed at the dragon with his sword. Holly saw the dragon's tail rise...

I know this part!

"Watch out above!" she screamed, in true Hitomi fashion.

Van moved. The dragon's tail came down and slashed the air where he had been only seconds before. Van killed it, and sliced open it's chest, taking the energist as his prize.

"Wow, that was close," Holly said.

"It wasn't you who killed it, so don't try to take any credit for it," Van said haughtily.

Holly was fed up with his Attitude. She smacked his oh so cute face with all her might, and he fell to the ground.

Maybe that was too hard??!! "Don't be such a jerk!" she exclaimed.

He rose slowly. "Uh...Come to my castle. We will figure out what to do with you then...You will be punished for assaulting me, Prince of Fanelia!"

Crud. Me and my stupid hotheaded temper.

*****

Kim wandered aimlessly throughout the floating fortress. She hadn't watched the series enough to have created a mental map of it. Strangely, whenever she encountered any guards, they glanced at her uniform, gaped at her femininity, but left her alone. Once she had searched most of the Zaibach center, she came to the guymelef hangar. She gaped up in awe at the beautiful machine in front of her.

"The Alsedies," she whispered to herself.

Images of the crima claw killing Balgus, and the flamethrower burning Fanelia to the ground appeared in her mind.

"Doomed to fail. So this is why in all the stories where someone who goes to the future decides not to remember." She sighed. "Poor Folken. He was sent me, a helpless little creature who is enemy number one on Dilandau's list." She closed her eyes and giggled.

"But not for long...chiku chiku, cheek cheek..." She laughed with herself, but it just wasn't as fun making fun of these people without Holly.

She slowly wandered back to her room, until an expansive window caught her eyes. And then she saw what Hitomi had seen...The Earth in the sky next to the moon.

Kim hadn't noticed the tears forming in her eyes, but she began to feel moisture on her face. Ashamed, she tried, to no avail, to wipe the evidence from her face. 

She felt a large hand fall onto her shoulder, and she could feel the warmth emanating from his body behind her.

*****

Holly considered running away, but decided against it, considering that was what got her into trouble in the first place.

She followed after Van, spirits low.

They arrived in Fanelia a short time later. Holly stared in amazement at all of the wonderful buildings and people.

Beautiful...

"I, Van Fanel, have completed the task of dragon slaying!"

Holly watched the proceedings with a crazy smile on her face, and tried to prevent herself from drooling. He wants to have me punished for assaulting him! What a jerk! But he's sooo hot...

They crowned him right then and there.

Wait a minute...It doesn't happen like this, Holly's mind protested.

"Who is this?" Balgus asked. Balgus was scary looking in person. 

"She got in the way of the dragon slaying, and she hit me," Van said.

"Is this true?"

"I saved him from getting killed!" Holly exclaimed. "And...I'm from the Mystic Moon!" The crowd looked awed and she nodded with that smug smile on her face... 

Maybe I can stay out of trouble if they are in awe of me...

"It's the invisible enemy!" a random guard screamed. 

But they're too early! Who is messing with the lot anyway?

Holly's mind was swept away by the general panic everyone was feeling...Balgus grabbed her arm and Van's and dragged them away...

*****

"Are you from the Mystic Moon?" he asked, soothingly.

She turned and looked into his garnet eyes, nodding.

"It's okay." He swept her tears off her cheeks with his left thumb. "I miss home, too," he said, gazing past her. She turned to look where he gazed and saw Fanelia.

"So soon?" she whispered.

Folken was about to ask her what she meant, when Dilandau paraded past them with his dragon slayers. Kim didn't know what had caused her to be so forward.

"You can not attack Fanelia!" she yelled after him.

Dilandau stopped abruptly, causing the dragon slayers to collide. He swept them out of the way and started at the sorry excuse of a girl.

"I can't? Oh, well then, let's just go have some tea them!" he bellowed into her face. A satisfied smile crept across his face when he saw her flinch.

This time he was not stopped, and slapped her soundly to the ground. Folken stood there, in shock of how this girl knew of their battle plans. Dilandau kicked Kim in the stomach, hard. Folken pushed him back, and helped the battered girl to her feet.

"Enough, Dilandau. Will you ever show restraint?" Folken said sharply.

Dilandau just shook his head. "You just watch, my pretty! Watch a real man destroy this poor little country you hold so dear!" Dilandau yelled at her.

"NO...I can't see that because you're not a real.." She was cut off by Folken's right claw. It pinched her lip and one of his talons drew blood from her cheek. He waited until the others had left and were stealth cloaked before he spoke.

"It is best not to provoke him," he said, finally returning his attention back to Kim.

Folken quickly realized his error and released her face from his claw. He became very ashamed of how he had hurt her.

"I'm so sorry," he said, sadness lingering in his eyes, before abruptly turning and walking away. Kim called after him, but he never stopped, and all she saw was his cape sliding swiftly away.

*****

"Van, take the Escaflowne, and the girl, uh..."

"Holly."

"Holly, and flee!"

"I'll never turn my back on an enemy and run away!"

"Van, just do what the big scary man says....Whoops, did I say that out loud?" Holly giggled nervously. She watched Van awaken Escaflowne, and watched as Balgus was killed...and she screamed as Fanelia burned...

"Get me the heck out of here!" she screamed. The ring on her finger began to glow..."The beam of light," she whispered, and she was carried away.

*****

Kim watched from the Vione, clutching her bruised stomach. They city burned and people fled.

Why, oh why did Holly have to get uncut? she wondered, for the terrible scenes which played out below became suddenly real and frightening.

Come on, Hitomi, call the beam of light, she chanted, hoping for the safety of those below.

And when it shot from the sky, she felt relieved. She began to feel the exhaustion that had eluded her before and began to limp back to her room. 

She passed Folken's lab, and saw him reading books intently, and she started to sigh. The inhalation brought pain and she whimpered.

Folken lifted up his head and then turned his body, to see Kim leaning wearily against the doorframe for support.

He glided, or so it appeared to her, across the floor, and caught her in his arms before her weakened body collapsed. He scooped her up and took her the rest of the way to her room, placing her on the bed. He gingerly touched her scabs where he had pinched her. She opened her mouth to tell him it was all right, but e shushed her.

"I overreacted, I'm sorry for storming off. You must explain to me how you knew of our plans..." He saw her eyelids droop. "But after you have rested."

She nodded her head slowly and whispered to him before he left.

"Thank you for your kindness." Kim smiled.

"Think nothing of it," he answered, trying to hide his emotions as he closed the door. Kim dropped into a peaceful sleep, far from home.

*****

Holly awoke and found herself lying in soft, cool grass.

"Aw man, I'm all dirty," she complained, wiping dirt off of her clothes. "This sucks. I thought being stranded in the middle of nowhere with a hot guy would be more fun...Wait, where's Van?"

She looked around. Suddenly, someone attacked her.

It was that ugly mole man, and he was trying to take her ring. 

"You pervert!" she screeched, and clawed at his eyes, causing deep gashes. She then kicked him repeatedly in the gut and he collapsed.

"Don't ever touch me again!" she yelled. Mole man groaned. Holly cackled in victory.

"Who are you? Are you all right?"

The Knight with the long golden hair. Allen Schezar.

Wonderful. My absolute favorite guy in the WORLD! Well, I'm not going to cry on his shoulder about how he looks like Amano...

"My name is Holly, and that PERVERT attacked me!" she exclaimed. 

"I see that you can take care of yourself," Allen said, staring in amazement at the crumpled form of Mole man. 

"I learned from the best."

Actually, I learned from Dilandau, she thought, suppressing a giggle.

"What are you doing to her! I'll kill you!" Van yelled. "Holly, did he hurt you?"

Holly resisted the urge to melt.

Hold on...I know what to do here!

She pretended to pass out. Van rushed at Allen, got his butt kicked, and Allen took them both to his place...With Holly giggling silently all the way. Things were starting to look up!

"Don't worry, little princess, I'll protect you."

Holly stifled a scream of terror at Allen's remark. Then again, maybe things _weren't _looking up.

*****

Kim arose stiffly from her bed to a room full flooded with sunlight. She stretched and ground as her tight muscles realized,. Grabbing the rest of her armor and sword, she pulled her fingers through her knotted hair and pulled it into a bun. She shuffled out of her room, wondering exactly how she was to acquire a breakfast. Folken stood just down the hall, gazing out of the window. His head turned and he smiled at her.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

She nodded shyly, ashamed of how weak she had been last night. Folken ordered them breakfast.

"So how do you know what our military plans are?"

Kim was caught off guard by the abruptness of the question.

"What the H#)% am I supposed to say? Yeah there's a TV show about your life and by the way the people thin that you and Dilandau...

"I'm....well, I've seen what was going to happen since I was little," she lied.

Hey, Hitomi saw the future, so why can't I?

Folken looked at her in awe. Could she really be a seer?

"So, let me test this. Where is Dilandau going right now?"

Kim thought. "He's talking to Allen Schezar, demanding supplies." 

Folken's mouth dropped open slightly, and then he nodded. "You will serve me well."

*****

Holly woke up for the bazillionth time and saw Allen staring into her face. She screamed hysterically and fell out of bed.

Unfair, having to wake up to something so scary...

"Are you all right, little princess?" Allen asked.

"My name is HOLLY!" she yelled.

Allen stepped back. 

"Where's Van?" Holly asked, panicking.

"Right here," Van said. Holly breathed a sigh of relief.

Van explained what had happened in Fanelia, and then about Holly.

"So, she is from the Mystic Moon?"

"Yes you ....So and so! We said that already!" Holly screeched.

Allen winced. "Sorry."

Holly glared at him.

"Now, give me back Escaflowne, and I will go back to Fanelia," Van said.

"Fanelia burned to the ground, Van."

"What? NO!"

Holly felt sad because she could see that Van was sad. Let me comfort you...

"Allen, Lord Dilandau is here!" called someone.

"Hello, ALLEN SCHEZAR," Dilandau cooed.

"Hello," Allen said shortly.

"I need supplies, and I wondered if you have seen any odd looking guymelefs around here anywhere?"

"No...Could this have something to do with the attack on Fanelia?"

"Possibly."

Holly could no longer stand it. She ran over and jumped him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and refused to let go.

"Get her off! Kill her!" Dilandau screamed, trying to get Holly off. Holly was determined not to be got rid of.

Allen came over and detached her, dragging her along kicking and screaming.

"I'm sorry, Lord Dilandau, she is mentally unstable," Allen explained. "I found her in the East, and she is simply beautiful." He leaned down to kiss her cheek, but she screamed and rushed into Van's arms. "Protect me," she whimpered, and Van led her away.

*****

Dilandau returned to the fortress with a look of utter disgust and anger.

"That girl! That weirdo from the East! She touched me!"

"That girl," Kim said, but fear of Dilandau stopped her from continuing.

"What?" Folken asked.

"She sounds like someone I know."

"Could she have traveled here with you?"

"Blast her, she's with Van!"

*****

Holly and Van sat in the room they had been given, and Holly thanked the stars that they had been given the room together.

She hummed a little tune, and Van asked her what the music was.

"It's the opening them from--Err...It's an old song form my country on the Mystic Moon," Holly explained.

"What were you trying to do earlier to Dilandau?" Van asked. 

"Uhhh...I think I'm still in shock and a little crazy." Holly suddenly thought of something. "Aw crap!"

"What is it?" Van asked.

"In this episode--ahem--Soon, Allen's castle is going to be attacked!"

"How do you know?"

"I--I'm psychic! We have to tell Allen!" She shuddered...ewww Allen! She ran to find him.

"I think you're a little tired," Allen said, feeling her forehead. "You seem to have a fever..."

"You're wearing gloves, you moron! How would you know? Believe me or I will kick you where it hurts!"

Allen thought he should prepare the guards; maybe nothing was going to happen but at least it would keep Holly calm!

*****

"Van. How do you know of my bro...I mean, the King of Fanelia?" Folken said.

"I know, I just know. I also know your story and Dilandau's and Emperor Dornkirk's...I just know who you are and what you are going to do."

"Can...Can you read my thoughts?" Folken asked anxiously.

"NO. That is one thing I can not do," Kim said with a smirk.

"So, little girly can tell what I'm going to do huh? So you twerp what are my plans for the 'heavenly' Knight, Allen Schezar?" Dilandau petered.

"You're going to burn them to the ground mercilessly, but some will escape," She said, gazing into space.

"Escape me?" he smacked her upside the head, but this time she remained in her seat.

Heh heh, just like Gatty...She smiled.

"Why are you smiling?!?" he screeched shrilly. He received no response.

"Baka!" He said, storming off to go and burn down Allen's palace.

*****

Holly followed Allen around and made very sure he was securing the place.

Maybe I can save them...This story is different. Some characters are missing and...I'm here.

"It's the invisible enemy!" someone screeched. "Zaibach!"

These darned extras...all they do is bring bad news!

"Told ya," Holly muttered. She pulled her lighter out of her purse. (She'd had her purse all along; it contained such important things as her lighter, lipstick, CD player, and...Escaflowne soundtracks.)

"Try and get near me and I'll set your hair on fire!" she screamed at the invisible approaching Zaibach Empire.

Allen gave her a strange look. "Holly, are you all right?"

"I'm MAD!" she exclaimed. "Mad in the angry sense, not the crazy sense."

Van came out, sword in hand. "I'm ready to fight," he said.

"Be careful, Van! You're too young and sexy to die!" Holly pleaded.

Van blushed. "I promise you, I will not die."

Holly clasped her hands together and batted her eyelashes at him. Allen noticed how beautiful she looked.

Holly saw that look in his eyes and held in her vomit.

"Holly, take cover," he said. 

"Oh, where the heck would you like me to go?" she demanded. "Nowhere sis safe because Dilandau is insane and bloodthirsty and will kill every last one of us!"

"And you attacked him earlier today," Allen pointed out.

"I didn't _attack_ him," Holly cried. "...Gah."

"Just go with Gaddes. He will prep--" Holly shuddered at the ugly word-- "the Crusade, in case we need to retreat."

"You're not as dumb as you look! er...I mean...Yes, I'll go!" She dashed off with Gaddes, and noticed that Gaddes was also quite handsome...

"Be careful Holly!" Van and Allen cried in unison.

Holly smiled at Van and grimaced at Allen...and then the world exploded.

People were dying everywhere...She knew that Van would not want to leave.

Swallow your pride, Van, Holly pleaded, staring out the window of the Crusade. She could not see him, but she knew what was happening...There was Allen's guymelef now, and Van was alive and well, if angry and defeated.

This is too real, she thought, shivering.

*****


	2. Part 2

Kim shook her head as thoughts of this episode reached her mind. She shuddered, and suddenly this wasn't just an awesome show with foxy bishounen, one of whom she was sitting across from. This was reality.

Those were really Allen's men dying down there, not just frames of drawings. The enormity of the situation reached her and a tear rolled down her cheek. Her temper flared.

"Why?" She asked, staring Folken in the eye.

"Why what?" he asked coldly in response. He was taken aback by the sudden fire in her eyes but he didn't pursue it.

"Why do you kill without conscience just to..." die... "Lose in the end?" she asked angrily.

"This is a holy war, for the betterment of Gaea. We have the gods on our side, we can not lose!" Folken said, punctuating his phrase by pounding the table with his fist.

"Bull *($^!" *CENSORED! She swore (true to Van.) "You can not make a place better by destroying it! You must talk, not kill innocents! War does not bring peace, it brings heartache!" she sprang from her chair, knocking it over in the process. "Just you wait, Folken Lacour de Fanel! You'll see how wrong all this is. How far off latitude this twisted plot of his is!" she said, gesturing wildly.

Folken's garnet eyes now glowed a wild red, like the fire below that Dilandau was creating. She saw this and shivered. He only got this mad at Dilandau. Maybe I crossed a line I shouldn't have? she pondered. Well da&(&^! He needs this. He's not going to wait until like the twentieth episode to se what a jerk he's being! Especially to Van!

Folken's feathers were definitely ruffled, but he decided he could not win an argument with this stubborn, hotheaded woman. He reached beside him and placed a large bag on the table.

Kim quickly forgot her anger when she saw what he had to offer.

"My bag! How...where did you find it?" she asked excitedly.

"I was under my lab table, where I found you," he said, smiling inwardly at her childish excitement.

She opened it to find her chemistry notes, calculator, and her latest civil war novel. Checking the batteries in the calculator, she piqued Folken's interest.

"I keep forgetting that you are further behind in technology than the Mystic Moon." Kim smiled. "This is a calculator," she said, formerly introducing him to the device.

Quickly, the tension created by their earlier argument dispersed as she showed him her chemistry notes. He became enthralled as she showed him how to make hydrogen in his lab and blow the gas up. It was now her turn to smile at him as he looked like a rich kid in a candy store. Kim sighed, already feeling homesick, and with a strange feeling that she would never return to Earth...and that she would die here on Gaea.

Hey, it's only an act, right? I can't _really _tell the future? I'm sure of it, she thought, sitting down in one of the lab chairs.

*****

And now, we flee to Palais.

Oh, no...Milerna. Holly tried not to gag.

Merle isn't here, so maybe Milerna won't be...Then again, maybe it would be a good things, so Allen would stop staring at me like that...

Van I don't mind, but he seems a bit preoccupied.

"Van, are you okay?" Holly asked, settling herself beside him.

"I should have been able to stop them," he said sadly. 

"You're only human. There's only so much you can do," Holly said. She took a chance, and leaned against him. He stiffened momentarily, then he relaxed and put his arm around her.

This is the way, Van...

"Blast!" Allen exclaimed. "Zaibach guymelefs are approaching! And they can fly..."

Van stood abruptly and Holly sighed.

"They are after me," Van said. "So maybe..."

"Come out!" Dilandau screamed. "Allen Schezar!"

Allen went out to fight. Holly watched through the window.

It's so hard...I have always loved Dilandau for his craziness but now that craziness and real and he is so evil...Where is Van?

Allen and Dilandau fought fiercely, and Holly realized she must be bloodthirsty because she actually enjoyed watching them fight...

And then Van came out in the Escaflowne, and changed it into a dragon. 

"Escaflowne has turned into a dragon!"

"Yes, Allen, we know," Holly mumbled.

"So this is the dragon Emperor Dornkirk was talking about! Gatty, Chesta, Miguel! Let's go!" They chased after Van, leaving Allen shouting after them.

"Vaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" Holly screeched. She realized she was actually sitting next to Gaddes, and at that particular moment she was screaming in his ear and pulling out his hair. He yelped. Holly apologized. "Somebody save Van!"

*****

Van flew as fast as he could but Dilandau still caught him. 

They fought...but Dilandau was stronger.

"I beat him this easily?"

Dilandau was shocked. 

"Dilandau! He is supposed to be taken alive!"

"Yes, Folken...I was just having a little fun," Dilandau crowed.

*****

Kim was wandering aimlessly later that day. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

"Do I even have a purpose?" she wondered aloud, but stopped when she thought she heard Van's voice.

"Brother?" he asked timidly.

Wait...I must talk to him, Kim thought. I've got to go stop Folken before he knocks Van out!

She needed no scheme to stop him, for he saw her standing in the doorway. He stopped seconds before he pierced Van's neck and walked sweetly away, leaving a confused Van behind.

"Who are you?!? How dare you interrupt!" he yelled.

"Van, sir, calm yourself!" Kim barked. "I need to ask you a question!"

"How do you...you called me sir," Van said randomly.

"Holly, she travels with you, yes?"

"You know Holly?" Van asked, his eyes softening.

"Yes, we both come from the Mystic Moon."

"So many people coming from there...Why are you on their side? Why do you choose such an evil?" Van demanded, getting all haughty again. 

Kim shook her head and walked out of the room, to almost run into Folken.

"You may poison him now," she said quietly, and ran off to her room.

I am here to make Folken realize...

*****

Holly had her hands tangled in Allen's hair and she was dragging him around the Crusade. 

"Van could DIE so we have to go and save him RIGHT NOW ALL RIGHT?" 

Allen was whimpering in pain. "Yes...I was going to go after him anyway..."

Holly released him. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm a little worried right now." 

"I understand."

Holly handed Allen the clump of hair she had ripped from his head as a form of truce. He laughed. 

Maybe Allen's not so bad after all...Holly, don't even go there, girl! 

"We have to find out where he is first," Allen said.

"The place where the wandering earth collects," Holly replied automatically.

Allen gaped. "But...how..." 

"I'm psychic," Holly said, giggling nervously. She wasn't, not really, but how else could she explain? 

Allen ordered the Crusade to be taken to that place.

Holly was (quite unfortunately) touched by his trust. 

They arrived at the Zaibach floating fortress and Allen and his men boarded it.

I'm not an athlete, I can't wait and then jump across a chasm that will be eight or nine feet across...I would fall to my death! So Holly followed right behind the men, as quickly and silently as she could manage.

She saw Folken; sexy Folken, toss Van his sword. Oh man it's really Folken...Don't lose it Holly don't jump him like Dilandau you can't... 

"Brother!" Van exclaimed angrily. Oh Van...Folken, your brother who secretly cares about you but can't let you know it because he thinks he is doing the right thing and creating a better world...I hurt for both of you... Holly was so sad. She was about to go to Van, when she collided with someone familiar. "KIM!" 

*****

"Holly!!!!!????" She screeched. "This is too cool, but way too scary and ... how?? This isn't happening correctly on the time line. where's merle? Why aren't you trying to save Van by jumping across the chasm? That thing sure was scary last time I looked."

Folken stared at the two nutty girls jumping up and down below him. Such happiness. 'I used to be happy when I was as old as them...' he sighed softly, casting one last regretful look at his brother, who could not see how wonderful the future under Zaibach could be, and drifted silently back to his lab. 

*****

Holly squealed with delight upon seeing Kim...then she ran for Van.

"Van, watch out!"

Van turned just in time to see Dilandau attacking him...He sliced Dilandau's cheek. 

"Owie!" Holly yelled. She was torn between the two of them...she loved both when watching the show, but now that it was real? Who did she love? She knew she felt something deep within...

"Van the Escaflowne is that way!" she said. "I'll be there soon...I promise!" 

Van trusted her so completely...

"Kim! What are you doing with Zaibach?" Holly demanded. "Were you...were you responsible for the death of...so many people...and Fanelia..." Holly felt weak. How could Kim do that? "And...Oh MY GOODNESS YOU DID IT DIDN'T YOU? YOU FELL IN LOVE WITH THE GUY WHO IS DESTINED TO DIE! STUPID YOU!" Holly shrieked. 

*****

Kim turned bright red as Holly accused her of falling in love with Folken. "You just have no idea how tortured he is. Seeing him makes me want to cry. I didn't chose to come here anyways. I've bi&*(ed both Dilandau and Folken out for what they've done. I've got the bruises to prove it." she said, pointing to the bruises on her face, and arms. "It's just so hard to tell someone what they believe is wrong. I...I can't not reveal that there is a show. I'm 'psychic'. Hey, speaking of that, do you think that Hitomi's still waiting in Japan, looking for her true draconian love?" Kim giggled, despite the blood and terror surrounding them. 

*****

Holly laughed evilly at that remark. She felt a bit better that Kim wasn't evil..."I love Folken too," she said, "but my job here is to make Van a softer guy...at least I hope that's my job. I think that I..." Holly turned red. "Anyway. Will you come with me, come with the good guys?" 

*****

"I can't leave him" Kim said sadly shaking her head. "He doesn't have Nariya, and Ariya to show how wrong he is. Until Asturia?" She asked, hold out her hand. 

*****

Holly shook her hand so hard that Kim's arm almost dislocated. "In Asturia...Wish me luck with Milerna!" she made a face...and she ran after Van. 

I hope Kim will be all right...and I hope that Folken doesn't hurt her... 

******

Kim watched sadly as Holly ran off, her arm tingling from her fierce shaking. she heard Dilandau screaming violently about his beautiful face, and decided that she ought to hide. He seemed to have taken a particular liking to hitting her, even more than his dragon slayers. She walked slowly but could hear Dilandau's screams increase in volume behind her, and broke into a full fledged run. Her scabbard tripped her and she went sliding into Folken's lab, seeing him staring silently at her textbook. He pretended to be reading but she knew that he was not. 

'The dragon. The dragon that stole his happiness.' She remembered. 'That's what he's thinking about. Should I go and preen his hair like the cat chicks did?' she asked herself, suppressing a giggle.

He seemed to be aware of his presence now, and turned to face her. She was looking upwards, and the expansive ceiling. He watched intently, his eyes glistening. She knew he needed to let it go. 

"It's ok to cry." She said quietly. 

*****

Van, Allen, Holly and the others returned to the crusade. Van thanked Holly for saving him... 

He seems a lot nicer already...He's really becoming a sweetheart, and so early in the series! 

No matter how real it felt, Holly still could not stop thinking of this as a television series. If she did that, she was not so scared. 

"It was really no trouble," Holly said, blushing. She loved it when he looked at her like that...Van...She had always dreamed of meeting someone like Van, but she had figured she never had a chance. Guys just didn't seem to like her... 

I hope that he cares about me...I don't think I could stand it if he didn't... 

"We are now in Asturia," Allen announced. "We are going to land." 

Well, here it comes...Milerna. She and I are NOT going to get along at all. Holly braced herself... 

*****

Kim walked over to him and put her hands on his shoulders. This seemed to make him feel more at ease because he began to talk. 

"I've betrayed my country, my mother is dead because of me, and I'm a failure." He said softly. He wanted to cry. Oh how he wanted to cry. but the tears wouldn't come. He had been this way for years, not shedding a single tear, aside from the tattoo. Folken had been cold for far too long, and he had forgotten what it was like to feel.

"Folken, they used you. They saw you lying there on the ground, and they thought 'look a capable young man to meld and black mail into our use'. You do not have to be here. Van loves you. He's just stubborn. He'll come around." Kim sighed. When it's too late....

He leaned his head back and saw there were now tears in her eyes. "Why do you waste your tears on a traitor?" He asked, feeling worthless. 

"Because he has the heart of a true hero, like no other man I know." She said, the tears spilling over onto her cheeks. Curses Holly's right. Why did I have to fall in love with the one that's gonna die?? 

Folken pulled her down into his lap and she pressed her head into his soft warm chest. 'He smells like home.' She breathed deeply. his heart beat was soothing and it calmed her tears. She finally raised her head and looked deep into his eyes. She could see the regret there, but something else was also present. 

Could it be? No, of course not. Folken doesn't fall in love. He's lost his heart to... But maybe he could find it with me? she thought.

*****

Holly tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for Milerna to arrive.

"Princess Milerna," Allen said. 

Milerna giggled and flirted. She told Allen to use her horse and go back to the palace to talk with her father. 

"Girl...Get Allen's bags, will you?" 

Holly had been expecting this. 

"No."

"What?"

"I'm not a handmaiden."

"Oh...I'm sorry, I just saw those odd clothes and assumed..."

"You shouldn't frown upon anything that is different!" Holly shouted. "Just because I look and act different than you doesn't mean I am any less of a human being! I am a person too and I just wish that people would accept that!" she began to cry, and she was enjoying herself immensely. 

Milerna had a stunned look on her face. "I'm sorry..." 

"She's with me," Van said, and there was no Merle to deny it...Holly smiled gratefully at him, and leaned on him a bit... I think...I think...Could it be? I always thought of him as a fictional character and I loved him to pieces but could I really...? 

"I'll lead you all to the castle," Milerna said. 

Holly stifled a cackle, and let Van help her walk. 

*****

Kim sighed and walked from the room. 

Folken needed to speak with Dornkirk about the escape of the white dragon. 

Wait a minute.... Dilandau never touched the energist... what the hell is going on? she thought angrily. A sudden wave of dizziness caught her off guard and she grabbed the wall for support. She was falling backwards. 

"A vision!!!" She whispered. "This is getting too real!!!" 

She screamed, and fell within her mind. 

__

**She was fighting, with Miguel, with swords.

"I don't know how to do that, what's going on???"

~~unsheathe your sword~~~ a voice called to her. 

Suddenly she wasn't watching herself fight Miguel, she was actually fighting him. And not loosing. She swiped his sword away. 

"Very very good. Master Folken will be pleased." He said, and the vision abruptly ended. **

She was standing in the empty hallway, holding out her sword. 'Do I fight now?' she wondered. She practiced a few strokes and was amazed at her ability to handle the weapon. 

"I can sword fight!" She exclaimed happily, he voice echoing throughout the corridors. 

"Oops," she whispered, and ducked into her room, before anyone found her. 

*****

Milerna gave Holly a dress to try on but it was too small around the middle. 

Curse those candy bars. She handed it back, embarrassed. Milerna ordered the servants to let it out a little..which only embarrassed Holly further. 

She seethed as they took her measurements. Why do I have to be...pudgy? UNFAIRNESS! She snarled at the pile of her clothes in the corner...and they caught on fire. 

"Whoa!" she exclaimed. "Water! Someone, water!" 

The fire was put out and she sobbed at the gaping hole in her favorite shirt. 

Blast my luck anyway. What just happened, there? No one on Gaea has weird powers like that...She shook her head. This was getting weirder and weirder all the time. 

Flaming heck. Literally.

She began to giggle uncontrollably. 

The dress was fitted to her and she went out to where Van was sitting...and he stared at her with that particular expression in his eyes that she loved so much. 

"Do you like it?" she asked, turning on the charm. She'd never been very good at flirting, but she was darn well going to give it her best! 

"I do," he said quietly. She blushed.

"I just got a message from Allen. He says to go to the market without him...Men," Milerna whined. 

Holly snorted. "So let's go!" 

The market was absolutely amazing. She got stopped at one booth, by the guy with the CD. Unlike Hitomi, she actually demonstrated its use to the guy...and he gave her a fair bit of cash for her magical CD player, and she bought a crapload of clothes and other exotic stuff. 

This is the life! She thought, suppressing an evil cackle. That CD player was almost done for anyway...mwahahahahhhahahahha! I am soooo bad. 

Van saw something and went running after it. Folken...Holly thought. He saw Folken. Oh no, I have to go...Dilandau is going to try and kill him! NO!

****** 

Dilandau put all the power he could into one crima claw. "BYE BYE VAN!" 

***** 

"Watch out!" Holly screamed, and she knocked Van to the side, interrupting his talk with Folken. The claw whizzed past him.

Folken shook his head, and left, vowing to yell at Dilandau when he got back... 

"You saved me," Van said. "Why?" 

Holly tried not to show how much she was enjoying lying on him. "Because I didn't want you to get hurt...I would never want you to be hurt...Van, I..." 

"Holly..." 

"The King requires your presence," said a bunch of guys in crappy uniforms. 

Blast that King Aston. He is interrupting a very important moment in the series! But of course, they had to go... 

*****

Kim watched from the carriage as Holly jumped Van. 

Hehehe she can't hide that from me. She's soooo in love with him. she sighed. Da*(*t why do I always fall for the ones who I know I can't have? Is Liu right when she says I do it because they can't hurt me? Well I'm sure as heck not going to walk away from this one unscathed, she thought. She began to bang her head against the side of the carriage, and continued even after Folken stepped into it. 

He reached his hand between her head and the carriage and caressed her cheek. 

"Self-punishment is not the answer. Now tell me why you are being masochistic?" he smiled. 

"Stupid boys. Always so stupidly unreachable." she muttered. 

To her amazement he had actually heard her and laughed. "That's why you need a man." He said turning her face to look at his. He had a soft smile on his face, and was slowly leaning closer towards her lips. 

No you cannot, Folken, you cannot hurt this poor innocent. She does not deserve the trouble and turmoil which follows you...

He leaned upwards and kissed her forehead. "You will find him... And he will treat as the GODDESS you are." 

"I think I already have..." she sighed tears filling her eyes as the sweetness of his gesture. 

*****

Holly watched as Van fought in a three on one battle. He won, of course; Holly had known he would, but she was still angry that King Aston could be such a stupid jerk!  
She started to protest, but Allen stepped out in front of her, much as he had Hitomi. Holly was not going to let that happen. She wanted her voice to be heard. She climbed Allen's curtain of hair, and perched atop his shoulders.  
"King Aston, that was unfair!" she exclaimed. He gave her a dirty look.  
"It's all right," Van said. "Odds like that happen on the real battlefield."  
Holly smiled sweetly at him. She went to him...at least that's what she meant to do. What happened was that she fell from Allen's shoulders onto the ground. He moved as if to help her...but she scrambled to her feet.  
"Join me for dinner," King Aston said to all of them. It was not a request.  
Oh wait, now is the part where I get to go and get drunk! SWEET! Only I hope that it can be Van who carries me to my bed, not Allen...  
  
******  
Kim stumbled in on Dilandau prick pricking, cheek cheeking. She giggled, but her blood turned cold when she realized how frightening his voice was.  
"Chiku, chiku." she said, in her best Japanese impression.  
Dilandau looked at her, his eyes blazing.  
"Master Dilandau, you are even more beautiful with the scar." she winked, and exited quickly, leaving a confused dilly sama on his throne.  
She walked to Folken's lab, and waited quietly, not wanting to interrupt his work. She picked up her book and began to write in her red duotang.  
The latest work was one of love between friends.  
Always the love theme, she sighed. Always a romance author, never romanced.  
She began writing furiously, coming to the part of their first kiss, not noticing how Folken was standing behind her, reading over her shoulder. She stopped when she felt someone watching. He took this opportunity to snatch   
the book from her.  
"Hey give that back!!" she screeched trying to grab it from her hands, but her 5'6" frame was no match for his 6'4". He read the entire story, while Kim stood there blushing harder every moment.  
"This is very good. Have you ever been in love? Because you describe it so well." his eyes were burning into hers.  
Just when you think that you can't blush harder..  
"Well, I've always liked guys who I have no chance of ever having a relationship with, so I've been in angst.." she managed to get out.  
He nodded."I know exactly what you mean.." he said quietly.  
Dilandau burst in and interrupted the moment   
"I'm going to capture Van." He said angrily.  
"No you can't burn Asturia, they're innocent. You can't!!!" Kim said walking directly into the path of Dilandau.  
"Foolish girl!!!" he said preparing to slap her.  
But she was quick and drew her sword.  
"Let's dance, you and I," she said darkly, challenging him.  
He also drew and was the first to thrust, cackling wildly the entire time.   
Until she began to gain his ground.  
"Wha... I'm being beaten by a woman!!!" He screeched.  
She finally knocked his weapon from his hands, and held the sword to his   
throat.  
"You will not go and burn anything. You will just try to capture 'the dragon', you will not hurt civilians." she said through clenched teeth.  
He shook his head wildly as though to defy her, but she pierced his neck with the sword, and he backed off.  
She stood shaking after he had gone.  
"Who am I?" she asked herself. "This is not like me at all...."

******

*****

Holly sat at the dinner table and downed glass after glass of the sickly sweet liquid, and she still wasn't drunk yet.

Drat. I hate liquor...Who would ever have thought that I had such a high tolerance? Gah.

"Milerna is engaged to be married to Dryden," Milerna's sister announced.

"WaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Holly exclaimed. "You can't! Then Allen will stay single..." She giggled hysterically.

Oh I think the drink is working now...

"Anyone wanna see me touch my toes?" she demanded. "One two three four...Touch the floor! MWAHAHAHAHA!" Then she proceeded to pass out (yet again).

"Umm..." They all stared at her form on the floor. 

"I will carry her," Allen said. Van was about to protest...but he didn't.

Allen gently placed Holly in her bed and noticed how pretty she was...She was insane, yes, but quite charming, really...

She stirred. "You carried me, didn't you?" she sighed. "I never get the guy I really want..." She fell asleep again.

I wonder what she meant by that?

Eries walked into the room.

"Allen...you can't keep leading Milerna on like this!"

Allen pulled the blankets up around Holly's face to be sure she would not get cold.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You see Marlene in her, and you miss Marlene so much..." Eries shook her head. "Let Milerna have her own life!"

"I will never fall in love again."

Eries laughed sarcastically. "Of course not, Allen Schezar." She turned and fled.

*****


	3. Part 3

Allen went for a walk and found Van practicing swordsmanship on the roof. He offered to be Van's sparring partner, and Van agreed. Allen won, but he could see how much better Van was becoming...He fought with too much anger, too much pride. He would have to learn that.

He heard Milerna's quiet applause, and Van left. 

Holly was on her way up the stairs to spy because she was a nosy brat. "Van," she said. "Did you need to walk too?"

"Don't go up there," he warned.

"I'll be fine," she said, and winked. She wanted so badly to put her arms around him...unlike Hitomi, she knew who it was she really wanted...

She climbed the last of the stairs and watched Allen and Milerna.

You know...I think I actually feel sorry for Milerna. He doesn't really love her, and she cares about him so much....She should stick with Dryden. Maybe I can help her, when we meet him...I know that he loved her...so he will love her.

It was confusing. Holly went back to her bed. She had forgotten this part...

She was kidnapped, and there was no Merle to tell Van...

She focused that energy she had sensed once before...and she set something on fire. Van was the nearest and rushed to see...and he saw that she was being taken away. Against the wishes of the King, Van went for Escaflowne. He couldn't let this happen to Holly, he owed her for saving his life...and besides....

He rescued her and smiled at her, happy to see her once again...And she smiled at him with that smile that made him so confused...

And then he heard that laugh behind him.

Dilandau.

Dilandau was setting the city on fire...

******

Dilandau didn't care what some LITTLE GIRL had said to him. He was going to have his fun in the city...and kill Van in the process...

Only Van escaped.

"No!" he screamed. "It's your fault innocents are dying! Get back here!"

"Don't listen to him," Holly said. "Run, Van...you have to live to save the world...It is his lust for blood that killed them, not you..."

******

Folken stood across the room, staring at the trembling figure as her sword clattered to the ground.

"How did you...learn to do that..?" he asked puzzled.

"A vision..." she sighed. "A what??" he exclaimed.

"I saw myself, fighting Miguel, and then I was fighting Miguel and I won, and retained the ability to wield a sword." "Extraordinary." Folken gasped.

Kim shrugged as though it happened everyday. She looked down to see the city in flames. "Ba&^%rd...Well at least she can't say I didn't try.." Kim growled. "He's uncontrollable. Do not blame yourself. This is all for the greater good anyways." Kim dug her finger nails into her palms. "I'm not going there again." she said sharply. 

"How can you no see the beauty in a new beginning?" Folken asked quietly. 

"I'm quite happy with the way things are now thank you. I don't need some twisted old Isaac Newton telling me how my life should end and begin again." She snorted emphasizing the stupidity of this whole scheme. She stalked over to the window and settled down gazing into the night. She saw van and Holly make a run for it. then she realized with a jolt how much trouble they were in. "Ack! Sandwiches! Holly can't see the invisible morons!! Da&*it!!! How the h&*l am I going to help them?" Kim said in a string of curses. "They're going to die!!" She shouted. 

*****  
Van and Holly escaped and they flew...right over a dragu energist mine.

Wow I know this place...

Van landed Escaflowne and they watched the goings on with interest.

"So they're mining them for power sources for guymelefs, right?" Holly asked. Van looked at her in amazement. "Yes...how did you know that?"

"Um...lucky guess," Holly said. "And...I'm psychic!" She sighed. She wasn't, really...She hated to lie to Van... 

"I'm going to try and stop them," Van said. And he tried...but Holly got kidnapped by some stupid guy in crappy armor and a bad voice. 

"Sorry," she said, a tear rolling down her cheek, as Van had to surrender. Drat. I hate being the helpless female... Then that creepy guy with the pink hair decided it was a good time to set his pet snake Nina on her... 

I don't have a pager! Please someone help me!

"Stop it!" Van yelled. "Leave Holly out of this!"

Van's concern gave Holly strength...Nina the snake burst into flames. Holly herself was getting burned, but it provided enough distraction for Van to get away. He sliced his way through the guards and pulled Holly away. 

"Hide!" he yelled. She did so...Van went after the energists. 

Be careful.. The ground started to shake and crack.

Aw crap! I forgot about this part... The big whole opened up below her, and she was falling, falling...she screamed. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Van heard. "Holly!"

He ripped off his shirt, but Holly was too terrified to enjoy the scene...then she saw his wings spread and he flew down to rescue her...he caught her hand and pulled her upward... 

She rested against him and calmed herself down, the terror ebbing away.

Thank you... And at that moment she didn't care that Van wasn't very muscular. Not for the first time since coming here, she passed out

. ***** 

"Who's going to die?" Folken asked form his desk. 

"Just your brother..." she said, still angry at him for wanting to destroy Gaea. 

Silence.

"Oh honestly, you end up being such a good guy! Why am I so bloody impatient??" She scowled.

~~Next Day~~ 

A guard rushed in to deliver his commander news. 

Kim and Folken were reading her text book, and she was teaching how to maximize the technology she had with her. He was so breathless, however, that he couldn't quite speak.

"Folken?" Kim said quietly. He turned his exasperated face to meet hers. "He's trying to tell you the energist stores were destroyed by Van, and the Escaflowne." She clarified the guard's gasps. the guard's mouth dropped open in shock. "Is this true?" Folken asked the guard, who only nodded in response. 

"Dismissed." Folken said with a wave of his claw. Folken turned to thank Kim but she had collapsed onto the floor. "Man not another one..." she groaned.

__

She and Holly were sitting on the shoulders of Escaflowne. "Holly!! You don't know how to do this do you?" "No!!!!" Holly screamed back. And so Kim took the role of Hitomi and screamed where the invisible morons were. "How am I going to do this when it actually happens?" She asked aloud. "Well considering you're not actually on Escaflowne.." Holly replied.

Suddenly Kim was in her bed, concentrating and putting herself into Holly's position. "You can hear me?!?!?" Kim screeched. 

"Yes!! Blast it, no so loud!!" Holly yelled insanely.

Kim sat with a crazy smile on her face, and then all was black. 

Kim woke up, blinking, on the cold hard floor of Folken's lab. his worried face hung over her. She smiled.

'I did it!' she thought happily. 'I figured it out!' 

"Sorry, I had...another vision.." 

Kim stuttered. Folken lifted her up and carried her to her bed, where she proceeded to contact Holly.

***** 

Holly was very happy that Kim could contact her, and glad that Kim had some of those psychic powers that she so mysteriously lacked.

"Over there!" Holly yelled. 

Van had talked to her about his parents earlier, and she had exclaimed how beautiful his wings were...now they were on their way to Freid and trying to escape the attack from the invisible enemy.

"And there!" Kim said 

"There!" Holly yelled.

This is sooo weird...

Van was in the water fighting with Dilandau.

"DILANDAU YOU JERK!" she screeched. She loved Dilandau very much but he was evil so she decided that she couldn't love him anymore. 

She focused that energy...and Dilandau's hair caught on fire!

"AAAAAAAAH!" he screamed. "My hair!"

Holly started to giggle...

Allen arrived and she could see a claw zinging towards her... 

Run Holly you stupid girl! But her legs wouldn't move! 

Allen took the hit for her. 

"HEY YOU JERK YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE DONE THAT!" she wailed. "No, Allen!" 

They captured Miguel...and they went to Freid. 

***** 

Folken heard Kim screaming in her room and ran to investigate. 

He saw her lying on the bed, curled up into a ball with her fingers at her temples.

She was no longer yelling, but laying still. 

"Are you alright?" He asked quietly form the doorway. 

She gasped at the sudden presence of him in her room. 

"I'll be ok, if these visions ever stop..." She muttered.

Shortly after contacting Holly, she had shared Hitomi's visions of Zongi's death. It really was frightening, and she couldn't make the fear go away. 

"Tell me, what do you see?" he asked, wanting to benefit from this girl. He still had yet to figure out why she was so important to the emperor.

"He's going to die. That thing is going to die." Kim repeated quietly. Then she realized she was a step ahead of him. "Miguel is captured by Van, Allen is gravely hurt and their traveling to the Duchy of Freid," she said louder than the last. She saw Folken put on his mask, the one he always created for himself, so that no one would know he was truly affected by what they told him. He walked away quickly anticipating the arrival of Dilandau. 

Kim groggily tore herself from her bed, and followed after him. Maybe she could stop Zongi from going, killing Miguel and.... 

"Making Holly's heart stop..." she gasped. 

**** 

Holly had never been in any serious trouble in all of her life, so she found it rather offensive to be locked up in the dungeon. 

You'd think Prince Chid would trust Allen, being his son and all...oh wait a minute he doesn't know that, now does he! Silly Holly... She leaned back against the wall. 

The cell smelled funny, and she was definitely not enjoying herself...although this gave her a good excuse to be snuggled up close to Van...

The guard came and said that Plactu wanted to talk to Holly first. 

Aw crap...Miguel told him about me. Stupid Miguel...Wait Plactu is Zongi and...I'm in big trouble. 

She wanted to scream and try and run away...but she could not, or they would really not trust her. 

They think that Allen is a traitor...Allen's not smart enough to be a traitor! 

No, Holly, that was cruel... 

I don't want to face Plactu. 

For the first time in her life, Holly was really scared. Oh, she thought she had been scared many times...but she knew what was going to happen here, and it terrified her as nothing ever had. 

Plactu/Zongi put her under the trance...and she floated in that strange place... 

"You jerk!" She exclaimed. "You killed Plactu and you are going to kill Miguel! How can you do this?"

Zongi stared at her. "Just who are you, little girl?"

"I am Holly and you are a *(^(^*&^%(*%" She exclaimed, using profanity she otherwise avoided. 

"You are going to die...and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it!" she exclaimed.

"I'm not going to die!" Zongi cried, and he went away...and Holly was being strangled... 

Help me!!!!!!!!! 

Kim...Van...please help me! 

And everything went black. 

***** 

"Her heart has stopped!" Milerna cried. 

Allen and Van rushed in, Allen holding Prince Chid as a hostage. 

Van proceeded to give Holly CPR but she wasn't responding... 

"Don't leave me now, Holly!" You can't do this to me...I need you...

***** 

"Holly get up!! You're not supposed to do this you fool!!!! I'm the on who's supposed to half die, because I can see what's going on!!! Their deaths look different Holly, I need your help!!! You can't leave me here!! Van's waiting!! He wants you to mmm mmm him!!!" Kim screamed contacting Holly. 

***** 

Holly could hear two distant voices. One was her dear friend Kim, demanding that she wake up; the other was dear sweet Van, telling her not to leave him... 

Wake up you moron. 

Holly came out of the dark place and looked up into Van's eyes. 

"Hi!" 

He looked so relieved... 

She turned to Milerna. "You can give CPR without opening my shirt, you know. Oh no...Plactu got away...he's a fake though." 

"Is this true?" Prince Chid demanded.

"Yes, Prince. Please believe me...Plactu was not Plactu."

"I will go!" Van exclaimed. 

Prince Chid nodded. His big tall advisor guy tried to stop him but he would not be refused. 

"I'm coming too," Holly said, before she realized it.

I must be mad. Crap all. I don't even know where to go... 

Kim which way is Zongi headed???

***** 

"He's going to kill Miguel in the Town Square. Then he's coming to talk to Dilandau...before he dies...." She told Holly.

Folken turned abruptly in the hallway when she said this. 

"What!?!?!" he yelled. 

"Folken, Miguel's going to die. Then Zongi's going to be killed by Dilandau in some weird squishy stuff." She said into his eyes. "Are you happy with this? All of this death? Nothing good will ever come of it." She snarked. 

Dilandau paraded down the hallway, holding his head high. 

"Oh look, it's you! That GIRL from the Mystic Moon." he growled. 

"She has just informed me of an upcoming loss. Miguel's going to die Dilandau." Folken said quietly. 

"You lie!!! He can not die!! He is a righteous dragon slayer!!!" Dilandau shrieked at Kim, as though it were her fault. "Oh just go kill Zongi will you? He's the one who strangled him..." 

*****

Holly directed Van to where Miguel lay, dead. 

"CRAP I AM TOO LATE!" she wailed. Sexy Miguel was dead.. "Dilly--ahem, Dilandau is going to kill Zongi...Plactu...If we don't hurry!" Holly exclaimed. "Even if he's a creep he shouldn't die..." 

Van took the Escaflowne in the direction she pointed. 

Hurry...Hurry... 

*****

"That was a terrible thing you did to Miguel..." Dilandau enjoyed all of Zongi's terrible screams...

For killing one of my men you deserve this... 

Holly and Van arrived just then. Van was attacked by invisible guymelefs... 

"Van...just focus," Holly said, knowing it was helpless because she didn't have a pendant... 

Wait, I have a ring, and I have a power. I know what I have to do. 

"Like this!" She focused on the ring...and it glowed when an enemy was near. She would use that fire... She put the image of Zongi dying out of her mind. Don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it... 

"He wants to kill you!" Van exclaimed. 

"Yeah I think he's still ticked from our little incident!" she replied. 

They escaped back to Freid, and Dilandau's guymelef could not chase after them... 

***** 

War. "Oh God oh God oh God..." Kim muttered pacing. "Everything is going exactly how it should......darn!!!" She bit back a swear for the sake of censorship. She was clawing for solid ground. "I've got to stop this war and the release of the power of Atlantis." 

The ground was melting away from beneath her feet. 

'Can't breath, can't help anyone. Hopeless, this is.' her mind chanted, all the while she became dangerously closer to the door to the outside air. Before she could react, the door was opened by her hands, and the air rushed by her face. It was cold, and numbing, but she hardly noticed. She regained control of her senses far too late. Taking the final fatal step, she clung to the nearest thing she could reach. the thin metal bar snapped, and she was falling. It was actually a very blissful feeling. 

'I wonder how he feels when he flies' she wondered looking at Folken above with his wings spread.

Reality hit like a bolt of lightning, and the scream erupted from her mouth before she could hold it back.

Folken enveloped her in his arms, and they landed safely in the nearby forest. 

She sat gasping for breath, her hair a complete mess. 

Folken walked over to her from his gazing stance, and took his hand in hers. 

"Do not throw your life away again so easily." He cautioned, keeping a stern look upon his face. He was trying to play the parent but his eyes told another story. Pure worry and adoration shone in them, and Kim was shocked. 

Hey, come on, your the first person he's saved this way. Noticed no Nariya and Ariya.' Her mind had returned. 'Where the hell were you before I stepped off the floating fortress?' She snapped back. 

Kim absently reached out and touched his wings, which were tainted by his tampering with fate. They were soft and silky and her light touch caused him to close his eyes. 

Only then did she get a glance at her shirtless wonder. Never having blushed so much in her life, she hid her cheeks under her hands. 

"I won't do it again, I promise." she said, regaining her composure. "The duke of Freid is going to die." Keeping him up to date with her visions, she warned him. His eyes flashed open. "After you attack them, that is, and kill innocent people, and release the power of Atlantis, and make an 8 year old orphan." She scowled and abruptly stood. 

'Such a temper.' He smirked. Before she could entice him into another argument, he lunged at her and took for a ride. She screeched and clasped her hands into his shoulders. They did a few spins, and dives, and he eventually took her back to the fortress. He immediately put her down, and became serious again. 

He nodded, and with a cough walked briskly away to retrieve another dress....er......cloak. 

'Can't fall in love' became his mantra. 

*****

Van was upset that he had failed, and could not prove that their intentions were pure, but Prince Chid knew that since they had returned, all was forgiven. 

Well whoopdido. I could have told them that! 

The Duke of Freid returned that day, and Holly coughed and choked horrendously when someone said he was Chid's father. 

Ugh Allen...Father at thirteen, father at thirteen...impure thoughts, impure thoughts...

Allen convinced the duke that war was coming, war with Zaibach, and the duke showed them the history of Atlantis...

Holly could not see the visions as Hitomi could, but she knew what it looked like from watching the show. 

The people of Atlantis all destroyed from the power of their wishes and their will...She shivered. 

The war came. 

Holly, in that moment, realized that her life had become one of danger and fear. Never before had she been so close to death...She had been sheltered for so long. Now, fear and war was a regular part of who she was...It was unnerving. When they came back and said the duke of Freid was dead, she felt so bad. She had known that was going to happen, and hadn't tried to stop it... 

From now on, things will be different. I will not sit idly by...I will NOT. 

Chid entrusted the secret treasure sword to Folken... 

Folken. Kim, I hope you know what you're doing! 

Oh no, this is the part where...the part where... 

Holly ran to the hangar where Escaflowne was.

"OH NO VAN!" Blood was dripping from the Escaflowne's control chamber...

Allen ran in and exclaimed, "Blood is dripping from the Escaflowne's control chamber!"

Holly resisted the urge to strangle him. 

Van came out of Escaflowne. "I can still fight..." he said, though he was covered with blood. His wings came out... "He's a Draconian!" Allen exclaimed. 

Van passed out.

***** 

"These wounds won't heal!" Milerna exclaimed, sometime later. 

"Hurry and get Dryden, he will know what to do! Please Allen we can't let Van die..." 

Though her words were crazy and hysterical, there must have been something in her eyes that said she was telling the truth. Allen went to contact Dryden. 

Please hurry. Oh Van... 

Dryden arrived and made his speech about the guymelefs that killed their operators. He called the clan... 

"These babies know how to phone home!" he exclaimed. 

"How the heck do you know about telephones?" Holly demanded. "Um...I mean...Never mind. Ignore the last." 

Dryden offered to pay the $50 million for the Escaflowne repair job, and Holly threw her arms around him and kissed him quite happily. 

Embarrassed, she backed off and sat by Van. Dryden only laughed. She had always liked him for his sense of humor. Please Van, you'll be okay...you made me come back and not leave you, and now I want you to do the same thing for me...Please Van, I...I'm not as dumb as Hitomi, I know how I feel... 

Van sat up, completely healed. 

Holly knew there was no Merle, so she was the one who threw her arms around Van and cried in happiness at his recovery. 

"You really should thank this young lady for your recovery," Dryden said. 

Holly didn't spout the crap about how Van shouldn't pilot Escaflowne. She knew he was going to...She would just do whatever she could to make sure he was okay. 

"I'm glad you're back," she said. 

Then it was time for him to go and fight again... 

Oh no the Dragon Slayers!! She hurried, to try and change this terrible fate, before it was too late... 

****** 


	4. Part 4

Stunned was the only word that could used to describe how Folken left Kim. 

"Wow, what carefree attitudes he posses. Man If only I could speed up the future and have him say he's a stupid idiot." She grumbled. 

When he returned from Freid with the sword, she took one look at it and promptly was sucked into a vision. 

It was exactly like Hitomi's. She saw how Atlantis had destroyed itself.

"Man didn't anyone ever tell Dornkirk that history has an awful habit of repeating itself?" She groaned when she regained consciousness. 

Folken's brow furrowed, but he said nothing of it. Instead he brought up an idea which made her shiver.

"I think it is time you learned to pilot a guymelef." He said. Her eyes filled with tears remembering how he had mourned the loss of Nariya and Ariya. 

"Of...of course." She shivered, hoping hers wouldn't be the same fate of theirs. "But you're not putting any of that crap into my blood, got it?" she warned, her eyes taking on a glint of hostility.

He held up his hands in surrender and nodded. He walked her into the hangar, and showed her the guymelef he had created for her. 

It was silver, and something that Kim knew would make Holly seethe with jealousy. There was long flowing hair on top, just like the gold and silver twins' guymelefs. 

"Get acquainted, I will find someone to teach you tomorrow." He said in that spine melting voice. 

"You won't have to....." she whispered falling to her knees with yet another vision. 

After Viole had successfully trained her in the use of the Mecha, Van showed up, and promptly slaughtered all the dragon slayers. Shaking herself awake, she screamed in Japanese. 

"SHINDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the voice echoed off the walls and frightened Folken, the pillar of strength. 

"Stop him Holly, you've just got to......" she whispered to her friend

*****

"Van!" Holly screamed. "Van, wait..." 

Van heard her voice but he did not understand the words. Wait? How could he, when here were the murderers of Fanelia! The ones who had caused so much pain... 

"Van, listen to me! If you do this you will be just like them, just like them! You'll be sinking to their level and slaughtering them! It will only cause grief..." She started to cry. Always in the hearts of mankind was the will to fight, and to kill...Thinking that would bring peace..."All that war is is senseless killing!" Funny how she only realized it when she saw a real war...She had thought the fighting to be so wonderful until now, when she could smell the blood for herself and knew that the Dragon Slayers were really going to DIE. "Senseless fighting..." It was no use. She could not stop what was meant to be... 

What if it was not meant to be? Holly, you failed. You failed when everyone needed you. 

Van was drawn into the spirit world...and she ran to Escaflowne and went with him. 

Sorry Kim. I may not be coming back...no Merle to scream at me... 

*****

"Poor Dilandau, poor dragon slayers, poor Holly, poor Van...." She sighed, naming everyone who had had bad things happen to them. 

"Why do you feel sorrow for all o them but not yourself?" Folken asked quietly.

"Self pity is the road to destruction." She repeated the words that she had heard recently. "You'll be sad to know that your army has just lost its elite dragon slaying sector." 

"You said it without any feeling in your voice. We must get you away from here before you become me." 

"Well that's kinda silly, since I know how to use a guymelef and all..." she said, hiding her surprise at his care for her sanity. 

Folken just shook his head at her passivity. 'Such a strange one...' he thought. 'But she makes the days here a little more tolerable.' 

Dilandau burst into the room, screaming. 

Kim's head jerked up and she expected the imminent break down of Dilandau/Celena. But it never came. There was no screaming for Jajuka, nor any switching of the Garnet eyes for blue ones.

She shrugged it off as simply another twist in their new plot, but something in her mind protested. 'It's not what you think. Something big is different. Something is astronomically screwed from the show.' 

"Kim...it's time for you to rest. Tomorrow you and Dilandau will seek revenge upon the people of Asturia for what Van has done." 

She shivered at the cruelty in his voice. 

She fell into the vision in the nick of time. Van wouldn't open his wings, he wouldn't fly. "FLY you fools!!!!! Get out of here!!!! You shouldn't be in this place anyways Holly. The craziness of the visions. I have more respect for Kanzaki now. GET OUT!!!" She screamed and shoved Van before she resurfaced from the vision. 

"Oh god I hope they make it...." 

****** 

Holly snapped out of her depression. 

Kim is yelling at me...Blast her, anyway... 

I have to help Van get out of here... 

"Van please...please I don't want to die here...not now...not without.." she couldn't say it. "Van, wake up blast you! You bloody moron! I...I...WAKE UP NOW!"

He could hear the care in her voice and he looked up. "Holly..." He picked her up and flew. 

They exited the spirit world, together. Together.

Oh, Van...I never thought I would feel this way about anyone...and I know that I will have to leave you, just like everything else in my life...everything else always goes wrong...why why why! I promised myself I would never feel again! Not like this... 

Holly fell from the Escaflowne to the ground. 

Milerna and Dryden were there amazed that she was still alive. 

"I'll be okay," she said, but she didn't believe it in the least. 

Thank you, Kim. 

It was time to return to Asturia.

*****

Kim walked into Folken's lab when he had sent someone to come and find her. 

"I need your help. I need you to be my partner. We must distance the dragon and the girl." 

"Her name is Holly...." She said breathlessly. She had grabbed the railing for support on the bridge. 

"Will you help me?" he asked looking into her eyes. 

"Yes." She sighed blushing intently. 

"Clear your mind of worldly thoughts, and think only of me." he said quietly. 

"Oh, Allen..." She whispered. 

"Holly..." And then his lips came crashing down upon hers. She held her strength until the last moment, and when they parted she passed out on the floor. 

Folken scooped her up into his arms. He loved carrying her around. 'Such a weird thing to gain happiness from..' he thought, and placed her in her bed, planting a small kiss on her lips before he left.

"They're sweet like honey..." he murmured. 

***** 

Holly was wandering around and she saw Van. 

"Holly...You look so sad. If you go around with that look on your face, bad things will happen." 

Holly smiled a little. 

Van gave her some Piscus to drink and they sat with the guymelefs.

"Holly...you have such a strange power...to set things on fire." 

"I know that. I don't know what it is, Van." 

Van sighed. "Holly, I want you...I want your power!" 

That stung. He only wants my power. That's all. I'm not good enough for him, I'm not good enough for anyone and I never will be! 

She ran from the room crying, straight into Allen on the bridge. Allen looked so...hot. 

"Allen..." Allen leaned forward...and he kissed her.

No I can't do this...I am not in love with Allen! 

Holly pulled away. "No! You don't love me you only think you do!" Holly saw Van. "No Van wait! Please come back!" He looked so sad.... "Van I love you..." but he was gone. 

*****

Holly watched the wedding of Dryden and Milerna feeling somewhat detached from everything. Van was avoiding her now, and that really hurt. 

Maybe he didn't hear me? Or he did and he just doesn't care that I love him...love him so much I could just die...it's strangling me... 

Milerna, you'll be happy with Dryden, you'll see. Allen doesn't love you. He loved your sister, and you are so like your sister that he thought...

It doesn't matter. Just be happy with Dryden. You deserve happiness...Everyone deserves happines...So where is mine? *****

Kim walked into Folken's lab looking like crap. Her hair was a mess, her uniform was wrinkled, and her sword was barely attached to her belt. She had had no sleep last night, the guilt was eating her alive

. Folken took one look at her and glided across the floor majestically. He fixed her hair, straightened her uniform and reattached her scabbard to her sword belt. 

"What is it?" he asked into her ear grasping her shoulders. she quickly backed away, afraid of him for the first time. 'He did that before he knocked Van out...'

"I can't...kill them." She stuttered. 

"But you must. This is your destiny." He said into her eyes, worried at how she was afraid of him. 

"Why do you fear me?" 

"Damn you and your destiny to the seven hells!!!!" She shrieked. 

She ran and jumped into her guymelef, which she saw as the only way to avoid a confrontation with Folken. 

'Shite!! I'm not supposed to fall in love with the one who dies!!!' She cursed at herself. 

She took off for Asturia with Dilandau close behind. 

"Kim, what are you doing???" Folken ask. 

"Exactly what you want me to COMMANDER!!" she hissed, becoming formal and detached from him. 

Dilandau watched as the girl traveled to Asturia. something told him that she would get in the way and so he contemplated killing her. But something stopped him and he merely hit her with the back of his hands. He hit hard, and so she crashed into the forest and after he was sure she wouldn't get in the way, he continued on to Asturia.

*****

Holly stifled a yawn. This wedding was getting boring.

"HOLLY!" 

Holly clamped her hands over her ears as she heard the shrill shriek...until she realized that the sound hadn't come from without. 

"FOLKEN!" 

Oh no, Kim...What happened to Kim... 

"Something's wrong!" Holly cried. 

"What do you mean?" Gaddes asked. Before she had a chance to answer, the Alsedies landed in the square, where Milerna and Dryden had just kissed.

"I'm here!" Dilandau shrieked. 

No, this is all wrong...Dilandau is supposed to have snapped and been taken by the sorcerers...he can't be here, he can't! Nariya and Ariya....Except they do not exist in this story. 

It would have been...KIM! 

Dilandau must have knocked her out! Where is she... 

"I've come for revenge!" Dilandau screamed. He started to destroy things... 

That's it. I've had enough of his garbage. Folken...you're such a jerk to send people to attack a wedding...Kim how could you fall for such a loser? Holly shook her head. You know he's only doing this because he thinks it's right...but it is time to stop. 

"Dilandau!" she yelled. "You remember me! Why don't you come and get me!" 

Dilandau looked crazily down at her. 

"Yes...that would make me VERY HAPPY!" he cackled. He picked her up with the claw of his guymelef... 

"Holly, no!" Van yelled. He started towards her... 

I can just picture those guys going "Fate levels dropping...." 

"Van!" she yelled. "Van!" Their hands touched...and Dilandau dropped her. 

She fell...into Allen's arms. 

"Put me down!" She rushed over to Van. 

"VAN!" she threw her arms around him... 

She looked up at Dilandau...he looked sick.

So...they used the fortune blood...on Dilandau???! This is so confusing... 

"Van, are you all right?" 

"Yes...I'm sorry I couldn't save you..." he said, looking daggers at Allen. 

"You did, Van. You saved me." 

Now what happens next??! 

*****

Something was going terribly wrong. Folken began to pace. He was completely ignoring Dornkirk who wouldn't shut up.

Someone brought him the news that both of the guymelefs he'd sent out had been struck down. 

"Acceptable losses." Dornkirk said cheerily. 

Folken ripped off his cape. "You're wrong!!" He shrieked wildly, and ran to the guymelef hangar. "I must save her, this is all my fault that she is in this mess. I love her too much to lose her now. I...I love her?" He asked himself aloud, hopping into a guymelef. "Yes! I do!!! I Love KIM!!!!" He screamed wildly as he struck down the floating fortress, sending it plunging into the sea. He flew at top speed, until he saw Kim's guymelef lying in the forest. 

He landed quickly and prayed to the gods that he wasn't too late. 

Kim could hear Folken talking to her, and he seemed to be crying... 

"I'm ok..." she murmured hoping he had heard her. 

"Thank the gods." he said Right above her. He released the hatch, and enveloped her into his strong arms.

She clung to him and inhaled. 

"You were right." he said quietly. 

"About what?" she asked, her eyes flashing open. 

"Everything. The death, the self pity, the killing." He sighed, ashamed of who he'd become. "We're going to Fanelia to see my brother." 

She began to sob. "Shhhh... It's alright..." he soothed, and carried her to his guymelef. 

She rode on his shoulder over the ruins of Asturia. 

"Folken wait!!!" she cried. He landed the guymelef. They ran over to Dilandau. 

"That's why I wouldn't let you tamper with my blood." she explained. 

They gingerly took Dilandau with them to Fanelia. 

Before Folken contacted Van through Ruhm, he did once last thing as the Strategos of the Zaibach empire. He destroyed the Guymelef that had brought them there, and he kissed Kim. 

*****

Holly sat on her bed in the castle at Asturia, and hugged her knees. Van was still avoiding her, probably because Allen was still pursuing her.

Allen's a nice guy, I finally admit, and he's a good kisser...but I am in love with Van. 

She could feel it in her heart...She had never known what love felt like until now.

I wonder...I wonder if Van is going to Fanelia tonight to meet Folken...if Folken was reformed. Kim...

She heard howling, and her ring glowed.

Yes, Van is going to Fanelia, and I am going with him.

She went outside, and sure enough, there was Van, talking to one of the wolf men...the one with white hair.

"Van! Wait for me!"

"Oh, it's you," he said. He had drawn his sword at the oncoming noise...he sheathed it again when he saw her.

"I'm coming too, Van."

"Yes."

On Escaflowne, they traveled to Fanelia.

"Van...it's not a trap," she said. "Please believe me. Your brother...he was...confused."

"How would you know?" Van demanded.

"I just know, Van. He's your brother. Something in him makes him have to care for you..." just like I care for you..

Why couldn't she say it out loud? The answer deep in her heart...she was afraid of rejection. 

I don't know if he loves me. I can't tell...and I love him so much it would hurt to be rejected...

They finally reached Fanelia, and there they saw not only Folken and Ruhm, but Kim, and...

Dilandau????

*****

"Yes Holly, it's Dilandau. A forever masculine Dilandau, not Dilandau Schezar." Kim smiled knowing this would elate Holly. 

"Van, my brother. I realize that I was wrong in my ways. I have destroyed the Vione and wish to return to Asturia with you. Do you hate me brother?" Folken asked, all the while holding Kim's hand. She couldn't wipe the foolish grin from her face. 

"You are no brother of mine!" Van yelled, charging with his sword...dragons came out of hiding and ran after them... "Kim...Did you just say forever masculine Dilandau?" Holly shrieked as Van dragged her off into hiding.

Folken dragged Kim off into another direction and pondered what she had just said. Dilandau was covered and hidden in a broken building because he could not run. 'Forever masculine...' 

"Van put down the sword..." Folken made his speech about Van's anger and eventually Holly ran into them. 

"Trust me," he said and covered Holly's mouth when they were faced with the dragon. He merely held Kim tighter to his ripped body. Holly nodded, and he told them both that he needed their help. 

Folken flew down from the buildings, his shirt ripping. 

Kim saw Holly's knees buckle and caught her. 

He eyed down the dragon and made Van drop his sword, and soon the dragons left them.

"Your anger and fear is what causes them to attack," Holly said, going to Van. "Remember what I said about senseless killing...It was all true." She looked to Folken, trying not to fall again at how sexy he looked. She hadn't missed the looks he and Kim were exchanging...

Go Kim! Lucky you! 

"Folken, I think you have something you want to say to Van?" 

Folken nodded at the girls gentle prodding. "Van I wish to join you in your fight against Dornkirk," he said his eyes imploring into Van's. 

Kim stood there supporting Holly, all the while her eyes were transfixed upon Van, except when Folken gazed at her with those lovely eyes... 

Van did not know what to say. He was staring at his long lost brother. "Brother...your...your wings..."

Folken's wings were pitch black. 

"Van...Let him come to Asturia," Holly said gently, linking her arm in his. "Please...he will help greatly." "

All right," Van said. "Let's go."

***** 

They traveled to Asturia and were met with great suspicions. 

Once Folken had proved that he and Kim weren't evil like the one they had served, they were met with open arms. They drew maps and Folken showed everyone what Dornkirk planned to do and all Kim could do was nod. She didn't know as much as he did. (Well, she did actually, but she had no right to know it, and she didn't want people to be using her like Hitomi.) 

She became quiet and she walked up to Folken and said she was going for a walk. 

He looked at her, fear in his eyes, but she smiled and pecked him on the cheek. He squeezed her hand and watched her go, not turning back to the plans until he could on longer see her. Kim wandered for a while and eventually came to rest beside a fountain. 

"Theee fountain.." she giggled, and wondered where Holly was.

***** 

Holly wandered around aimlessly. 

Van...you're still so suspicious of Folken...and you want talk to me. Are you angry? 

She looked out of a window and saw Kim sitting by THE fountain. 

Hmm... 

"Kim!" she called. "Here I am!"

She sat beside her. "So much has happened...I have changed so much...I'm still crazy but I know things I never wanted to, like the smell of blood, the taste of fear...how someone looks after they have been dead for a while..." she shuddered. 

"I'm psychic like Hitomi..." Kim sighed. "And not because I watched the show...but because I have visions. Look at me, I'm dressed like a dragon slayer, I can pilot a guymelef, wield a sword, and aww Hell, I'm in love with him. This has got to be the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me in my life. But I'm sheltered still. I've never seen anyone die, apart from the visions." She shuddered and closed her eyes. 

She felt his hand land on her shoulder, and Holly grew very silent. 

She opened a curious eye to see Folken beside her, his irresistible self and she couldn't stop the smile from flickering across her lips. 

"Do you miss you homeland?" he asked Holly, his voice raising goosebumps on Kim's neck. 

"Truthfully? I'm scared to death that I'm gonna die at any second...but I do not miss home at all," she replied. "At home, no one cared...well maybe they did, but we never got along, and being apart...it doesn't hurt as much as I thought it might." She smiled. "Besides all the sexy men are here!"

And the only one I want is Van...Oh Van... 

Allen poked his head out of the door and asked Folken to come and answer some more of their questions.

Folken sighed and kissed Kim's temple. "I'll return" he promised and she smiled at him. 

Kim and Holly followed later after a long talk about how much had happened while they had been apart. Just as they entered the room Allen asked the question that would change everything. 

"Who is Dilandau?" 

Folken was quiet for a moment and then he spoke. "The sorcerers conducted experiments in hopes to find a human being who could kill without conscience. Dilandau was the protegé," he said, shaking his head sadly. It was like a slap in the face. Kim staggered and then completely collapsed into the vision.

__

It was a beautiful sunny day and she was five and playing outside in a beautiful field. 

"Wait for meee brother!!!" she cried running after the form ahead of her. 

*I don't have a brother!!!* her mind screamed. She turned around and it was......Allen.

"Brother!!!!" she yelled and ran giggling into his arms

"Holy sh*t Holly. My last name is Schezar!!!" she moaned holding her aching head. 

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Holly demanded. "Don't be so flipping stupid! You can't possibly be his sister cause we're from the flipping MYSTIC MOON you are being a MORON!" Holly yelled, shaking Kim by the shoulders. (She was feeling worn out and this drove her to the edge) "DILANDAU was his sister...YOU"RE WRRRRRRRRRRRONG!" 

"Listen you fricken pyro!!!" Kim screamed back. "I'm the one with these crap turd visions and I'm telling you that he's my F ing brother. Why won't you just flipping believe me!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dilandau's weenie is permanent. JEEPERS!!!" she cried sitting up and gripping Holly's hands tightly. 

Holly smacked Kim across the face and dragged her out of her chair. "Let's go! Right here, right now! I can't stand your FACE ANY LONGER!" 

She ignored the stares from Allen, Folken and Van. Kim began to rip Holly's clothes to shreds as Holly did the same. Eventually Holly was left in a VERY short skirt and strapless, her boobs being the only thing that held her dress on. Kim's uniform was completely destroyed and she was left in her undershirt and her pants looked like hot pants. She growled and drew her sword, prepared to end this... But Holly's look stopped her. Kim's mouth dropped open and she began to cry, letting the sword clatter behind her back. 

"Forgive me...I almost killed you!!!!" she cried. 

Holly broke down. She began to sob. "I almost set your hair on fire! I'm soooo sorry!" she wailed. "I didn't mean any of it! I didn't!" She hugged Kim and heard various cheers from the guys.

"But really...who want to see my boobs anyway?" 

Allen and Van choked. 

Holly blushed. 

"Uh, Kim...what happens next?" 

Kim's eye's misted over.... "They're coming to attack us...To kill us. Sandwiches. Mannit!!!" She kicked the chair away. "My fault my fault my fault...." she chanted. 

"Stop it!!!" Folken cried standing so abruptly that his chair was knocked over. "It's my fault. I've betrayed everyone!!" He said and swiftly left. 

Kim looked around at the audience of their catfight and blushed. 

"Zaibach is going to attack Asturia in a matter of minutes. Treaties mean nothing to them. Everything must be destroyed." Kim said in a voice that sounded frighteningly like Dornkirk's. 

She shook it off and sank in to the nearby chair, which she had taken her frustrations out on earlier. 

"Oh man," Holly moaned. "More fighting more death more killing..." she looked around the room. "I feel like it's my fault as well." 

"Don't be silly," Allen said. "Can you really be my little lost sister Celena?" Allen asked Kim wonderingly. "I thought she was dead..." 

Kim's head pounded and her eyes flashed open in anger. "My name is not CELENA" she said shrieking the name. "It's Kim, and yes Allen I am your sister, because it is so." She looked at him and smiled. "This would be the reason I love piloting guymelef and sword fighting. I never had a brother that I can remember. I grew up on the Mystic Moon. Holly and I have been friends for eleven years. Since I ended up there. Holly, you are from Gaea too! I just remembered... You and I, we're taken from here because we were dangerous...But we came back...And the show was... my visions. But a little warped because of the crap that Dornkirk put into our minds. Holly? What's going on? Am I on a drug trip, or do you remember too???" Kim became worried. 

"No drug trip..." Holly felt incredibly overwhelmed. "What the heck...the whole world just came crashing down at my feet..." She fell to the floor. 

Allen and Van were summoned to fight... 

"Kim...Is Van...is Van killing to protect me?" Holly demanded. 

"Yes. He sees you safe in his heart every time he kills someone. Don't be afraid of him when he gets that crazy look in his eyes, he truly loves you, and you're not leaving!!" Kim giggled. 

She choked when she saw what was happening. "How can you see this??" Kim wailed. "It hurts! It's so awful!!" she said tears streaming down her face. 

"I want to leave!" Holly wailed. "I can't take this! He doesn't love me! TAKE ME HOME!" The ring on her finger glowed... 

*****

They sat side by side on Holly's couch, their normal clothes had returned, and there on the TV was Escaflowne. 

"What the heck did you do????" Kim screamed clasping her hands around Holly's neck. Suddenly the TV exploded and became a smoldering mass before them. 

"I guess I should watch what I do with my psychic energy now shouldn't I?" Kim muttered dropping her hands. *

*** 

Folken approached Van when he saw that the two girls had disappeared. 

"We must go after them Van, without them Gaea will be destroyed. I love Kim, and you love Holly, and Holly, well she loves you back." 

***** 

Holly looked at the pieces of the TV and began to cry. 

"I...I don't know..." She wailed. "I just don't' want to see the fighting anymore. I don't want to see the death...but..." 

She suddenly had a revelation. "No, I'm being just like Hitomi! I'm so stupid!" She heard her family slam in. "Mom! Dad!" She called. She was faced with a complete stranger.

"Who are you?" the woman demanded. 

"Kim...this is my house but...It is not my house. We have to go back. We are from Gaea...it is where we belong..." *****


	5. Part 5

Love...Love Holly? Yes, I love Holly! "I have to go and get her!" he cried, and he hopped up on Escaflowne's back. He would not let Holly leave him, not now.... 

Folken hopped on the back of Escaflowne next to Van, and off they flew towards the Mystic Moon, leaving Allen to fight the bad guys by himself. Folken kept his eyes closed the entire time, willing himself not the feel the jealousy of never piloting the Escaflowne. 

*****

"To the closet!!!" Kim cried and dragged Holly after her. They swung the door open, but Kim stumbled back when the intense light blinded her. A shadow was cast and squinting she saw a dragon flying towards them.

"Could it be?" she asked Holly. "Did they come for us?" 

"Van!" Holly shrieked. "Van, I'm right here..."

Van could hear the voice of Holly, quite shrill and sometimes annoying, but he loved her. He landed Escaflowne on the ground...

Holly ran to him and he pulled her up. 

"Holly...I'll never let you..." 

Holly wasn't stupid. She didn't turn away or rush up to hug him...she leaned forward and kissed him. 

"I'll never leave again Van, as long as I have you." 

Van pulled her close and embraced her; Holly, his love. 

Folken dragged Kim onto his lap, and kissed her senseless, tongue and everything. She sighed and collapsed against his chest. 

"Can we destroy that ring Holly? I don't want you to throw another tantrum and take us away from them again." Kim joked as they flew back to Gaea, each tightly clutched in their man's arms. 

"I know you were only joking but...I think there's something more to this ring than either of us realizes," Holly said. "There is something coming...and it looks like it is going to be different than the ending of the original series! I'm not stupid enough to leave a second time..." She clutched Van's shirt. She would never leave him...She now knew that she was from Gaea, had lived there until five years old and then...sent to Earth with erased memory. She belonged here...she belonged with Van, wherever that was. They arrived back and all stepped down off of Escaflowne. Some soldiers were there...They were saying that war was brewing. 

The final battle, Holly thought grimly. 

"I want you three to go back to the palace," Van said. "You'll be safe there...it's time for me to fight." 

"Please be careful, Van," Holly said. "If you die, I'll never forgive you!" And the three of them were taken back to the palace at Asturia.... 

*****

Dilandau woke slowly. Where am I? Two voices conflicted in his mind. Fight... said one, and Who am I? said the other. He climbed out of bed, and slipped out of the Palace. 

He would find his guymelef and fight in the war he could feel coming...He was on the side of Zaibach and would destroy the one who had killed his Dragon Slayers... 

***** 

"Please don't say that because I'm going to start seeing things again. Curses why can't IIII be the PYROOOOOOO." Kim whined. 

The next five minutes were the worst in her life. She sat down, anticipating the vision. She could feel it, just out of arms reach but it would not come. Folken watched her, worried. 

"I wish I could stop this." He said aloud. "Someone tell me why, why don't my wishes ever come true!!!" He yelled and clenched his claw. 

Kim felt like she was turning into a puddle from the hotness of that action, but the vision had merely slipped over her. _This vision really sucked because everything was fuzzy. They were in Dornkirk's fate changing room, but Folken had white wings. _

"White wings? Oh God he's going to die!!!" The realization stung. Or was that the stabbing pain in her back? The air rushed and whistled past her ears, but there was no painful thunk. 

"A soft landing. What the heck is happening?!?!?!?!?" she screeched, chasing away the visions, and opening her eyes. Folken came into focus and he smiled broadly when he saw that she was ok. 

"Kim was that another vision?" Holly demanded. "Tell me what you saw and tell me right now!" She knew that Folken was going to die soon...Was that what Kim had seen? "Kim is it almost that time...the time when we go and face him...(you know I'm not letting you two go without me)?" Holly could sense that it really was time. "That means...we should really sing...just for the sake of background music...And you know what we should sing?" "Esca...Flowne....ESCAFLOWNE ESCAFLOWNE ESCAFLOWNE ESCAFLOWNE!!!" Kim started to chant/sing. Holly soon joined in and they received inquiring looks from the parties present. "Can you believe that I actually created that song in my mind? Weird..." she laughed nervously, trying to hide the sorrow and anxiety she felt. "I won't let him die..." she thought, not realizing she had spoken the thought out loud. 

"Now that we have sung Dance of Curse, the...amazingly weird stuff...can commence!" Holly exclaimed. "And just for the record, I'm not going to let him die either, you incredibly lucky fiend!" She rubbed her ring, for dramatic effect. "How interesting that I get the ring and you the psychic powers...I guess my fire power is just something I threw in because I like to be different." Holly grinned. 

The beam of light came, and swept them away to Dornkirk's evil lair of disgusting evil plans... 

***** 

"FOLKEN..." Dornkirk bellowed, Kim shivered with disgust. "I'm going to end this, forever!" 

Folken scowled at Dornkirk, releasing his wings.

Kim cupped a stray feather in her hands and it turned from the midnight black, to pure white. 

"Je comprends," Kim whispered, and as Folken flew up to kill Dornkirk, Kim snuck up behind him, against the wishes of Holly. 

The old man stood and Kim shrieked in disgust. 

"Oh, God please no, don't stand up!!!" Holly whimpered from below, and then spat in frustration at Dornkirk. 

Folken lifted the sword and struck Dornkirk down. 

Kim watched until the last moment and then jumped in front of Folken, surprising him.

"Kim..." he said. 

"I love..." the sword tip struck her back. "You..." she choked out and then collapsed into him. He wrapped his arms around her, not understanding what had happened until he felt the warm liquid oozing from her. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" he yelled very loudly, and they fell backwards, but their fall was put into slow motion by Folken's wings. 

They landed at Holly's feet, Folken sobbing, and Kim unmoving. 

***** 

Van was tired of fighting...he wanted this war to end. He saw the red guymelef... 

I thought Dilandau was sick? 

"Fight me Van!" Dilandau screamed. 

Van fought, but he did not understand how Dilandau could be here... Folken had said that Dilandau was normal, once, and that this thirst for blood had been built into him... 

"Dilandau, snap out of it! You're not like this..." 

"Not...like..." Dilandau stopped in his tracks. "Blood...I want blood...NO!" His eyes...were changing from red to blue, and back and forth... 

What is going on? 

Their attention was drawn to the sounds of screams...as the battle behind the mountain melted away. 

"I can't believe they actually used it!" Allen exclaimed.

Dilandau finally chose an eye color. It was blue. 

"We have to stop this fighting!" he yelled... 

*****

"YOU STUPID WITCH WOMAN!" Holly shrieked, kicking Kim's fallen form. "How can you abandon me like this? If you don't wake up right now I'm gonna..." 

She looked at the sobbing Folken and saw that his wings were white... 

"Look you *(&(*&tard! You fixed Folken all better and now you're DEAD! How the heck could you do this to me you freaking JERK!" 

"Ow!! Geez cat woman that ...hurts..." Kim mumbled into the ground. She had merely passed out from the pain, and now regained consciousness. 

Folken leaned down to check if she were really alive, and then kissed her gently on the cheek. 

"Don't do that again ok?" he said smiling weakly, his cheeks tear stained. 

Kim smiled back, but winced. Even though she was alive there was still a sword tip in her back. 

*****

"ALL RIGHT! Kim you're alive!" Holly cried, and she began to sob.

Dornkirk's spirit decided to appear. 

"You can not stop destiny," he said, as the freaky machine began to glow... 

"You craphead!" Holly yelled. "You're already dead and still you torture us! GO AWAY!"

Dornkirk's form caught fire... "There will always be the desire for men to fight...that is the destiny of all mankind," Dornkirk said, as he faded away. 

"Oh no, Kim...Allen and Van are probably fighting as we speak! I have to stop them...Please Kim, help me!" 

***** 

Van had tears in his eyes. How could they have used a weapon that would wipe everything out... 

Dilandau had fallen out of his guymelef and was sobbing on the ground. It was a strange sight, indeed. 

Allen came over. 

"It's all over..." 

"It's never over!" Van yelled. He didn't know what came over him right then, he just attacked...he had never won against Allen before, so what made him think he could win now? 

*****

"Of course! We can't have Allen's pride hurt too much by what Van's about to do." Kim said, she tried to sit up, but decided against it when she felt the offending piece of metal shift. 

"But after can we go and fix this thing?" she whined, being true to herself. Holly nodded, and Folken storked her arm for moral support. 

She clenched her eyes shut and called to Van. He was fighting against Allen, but stopped when he heard Kim breathing. "

Relax Van, just think of me as your psychic operator. Holly, it's all yours babe." 

Kim sighed and let Holly talk to Van.

"Thanks...babe. You know if I fail in making him come...we're all gonna die cause we can't get out of here," Holly warned. "Here goes nothing..." 

"Van...stop fighting Allen...You know this is wrong." 

"Oh I get it! You're just worried about Allen!" Van said crossly. 

"No, Van. Allen's nice and all but..." She shuddered. "No, there is only one man I love...and that is you, Van. I love you. Please believe me." 

Van gazed at her for a moment. He could see it in her eyes... "Holly." 

"Now please, come and save us from Dornkirk's freaky machine! We can't get out!" Holly broke the link and hoped Van would come... 

***** 

Van snapped back to the fight with Allen and backed off. Allen's guymelef fell back...Van had won!

"Somebody please help me!" Dilandau cried. Allen hopped down out of his guymelef, and went to Dilandau. He felt sorry for the poor boy... 

"Van, I think I heard Holly's voice calling. You should go to her...You were meant for each other," he said, his acceptance of their relationship unspoken, but obvious. Van smiled sweetly and began to fly Escaflowne to where Holly was...but Escaflowne went crazy. 

"That's it!" He ripped off his shirt and let Escaflowne fall. He flew... 

***** 

Holly looked up as she saw the blasted machine begin to crack. 

"Van!" she cried. "Van it's you!" He came down and picked her up, and they flew upwards together... 

"Holly...I love you too!" 

"Oh Van...." 

"Well there's something you don't see everyday...hentai in the sky. Hey we're still here too you know.!!!!" She yelled at the two of them flying away. 

Folken smothered her mouth with his and her flew after Van and Holly with her. 

Folken reluctantly released her sweet lips so that he could safely fly them to Fanelia. He bit onto the bottom of her earlobe and whispered into her ear, his hot breath dancing on her cheek. 

"I love you too." 

Kim closed her eyes and shivered. She then gripped his shoulders tighter and kissed his neck. They landed in the dastardly grove of trees where Hitomi had left Van. Kim layed propped up against a tree with Folken by her side. "I'm not leaving." she scowled at Holly like a five year old who wanted to stay up past her bed time. 

"You got that right, babe," Holly said. "Van, I love Fanelia, and I don't want to leave..."

"I don't' want you to leave either," Van said, and the look in his eyes was enough for her.

"I belong here, I belong with you," she whispered, and she threw her arms around him. "I love you, Van."

Hitomi never said it but I will...Hitomi, didn't stay, but I will!

After all, it wasn't Hitomi anymore; it was Kim and Holly.

And this, Holly thought with a smirk, is Gaea...our way.

*****

~~END~~


End file.
